As readers of my blog know, I have been thinking a lot of happiness recently. With the excuse of wanting to spend at least part of a Barnes and Noble gift card on myself (What does it say that my initial instincts are to spend it all on my students?), I bought Eric Weiner’s book…
read more »Today we discussed metaphors and similes in Walter Dean Myers’ “Love That Boy.” Nearly every student was engaged, excited. They smiled and giggled when the poem said the boy “grins like his Uncle Ben,” connecting it to when relatives say they look like their mothers or fathers. I was blown away when we got to…
read more »It’s no secret that most first-year teachers (especially TFA Corps Members) are not happy during much of their first year teaching. Facing an incredibly challenging job without all of the skills to succeed is difficult for anyone no matter how much support you have. I am not making this statement to indict anyone, but rather…
read more »One of the best things about living on the fringes of my school’s neighborhood has been bumping into students outside of the building. I, for one, was one of the few children who did not believe Rebecca’s story in first grade about “What Teacher’s Do When We’re Not Around” (aka the teachers go crazy partying…
read more »After winter break, we are going to be reading a poem-based novel that refers to a lot of poems, so we are previewing these poems with the kids to get started. We’ve read “Dog” by Valerie Worth and “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams, and the kids wrote their own wheelbarrow-style poems which I…
read more »One of my favorite parts of my job is showing my students that I am human who cares about them rather than just being a mean teacher re-directing their behavior and leading a boring classroom. I have a few ways of completing this task. One way is that I allow any students who want to…
read more »Secret we don’t admit to our students: most of the time, teachers love snow days EVEN MORE than kids do. It’s supposed to snow today. I mean, 40% chance means supposed to, right? It could be inches! Feet! So much we couldn’t possibly go to school tomorrow! There is next to no chance we will…
read more »I have three students who have missed 11, 11, and 13 days of school each. This is 14-17% of the school year. Situation #1: Kid is incredibly smart, would probably be making all As if he were here everyday. He misses school for a bunch of reasons (meaning that his mom tells me different reasons…
read more »Ms. S, what is that? What IS that? What is that box? Why is that here? Why is it called a Crayonmaker? Can we do science now? ————————- Is it going to melt the crayons? Can we eat what it makes? Can I have a crayon? Can I? How about me? Not fair! ———————- It’s…
read more »Last Monday, three of my kids were caught stealing from the Holiday gas station next to my school when they were supposed to be boarding their buses. On Tuesday, one of my kids was suspended for throwing a paperback book at me while I was teaching. On Wednesday and Thursday, everyone was back in action…
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